Friday, August 27, 2010

In the neighbourhood

Visiting Bergen, anyone interested in beer should check out Naboen. The combined restaurant and bar with Swedish dishes has made a special effort in their beer menu. Beers from many Norwegian micro breweries are available in bottles, and Naboen also offers several draught beers. And of course you can find a bottle menu with different international beers.

The "usual" pale lager is from Aass brewery of Drammen. Aass is also represented with a Classic lager, while Naboen also sells its own Bayer. The Norwegian craft breweries are well represented. Both Nøgne Ø and Haandbryggeriet always have one tap each. At the moment you can find Nøgne Ø's bitter. You can also find beers from the smaller Ægir and Kinn breweries. From Ægir you can drink Altbier from tap, while Kinn has two draught beers at the moment. One of them is the stout called Svart hav.

This week I was back at Naboen to have a quick beer. I decided to postpone a test of Ægir's Altbier. Instead I was ready for Kinn's IPA called Vestkyst India Øl (Westcoast India Beer).

Naboen has two handpumps, and both Kinn beers are served from the pumps. In the glass the India Øl had an unclear copper colour, a medium sized head and very little carbonation. The nose was fruity, and the beer had a creamy texture in the mouth. It had a taste of apples and pears before a more bitter finish. In my opinion this was an excellent IPA that I really liked.

Naboen is giving the little brewery a great support by selling Kinn beers this way. The first beers I tasted from Kinn were average, but the current lineup at Naboen is very good. The IPA and the stout are both very good beers, but do not forget the beers from Ægir, Nøgne Ø and Haandbryggeriet.